Jharkhand MLAs cash scam:Bengal CID summons Guwahati trader

Guwahati, Aug 7 (IANS): The West Bengal CID, which had sent a team to Assam last week, has summoned a Guwahati-based businessman to Kolkata on Monday in connection with the probe into the Jharkhand MLA cash seizure case, an Assam Police official said. The Assam Police official said that the West Bengal CID, a team of which visited various places in Guwahati last week, has pasted the summons notice at the premises of businessman Ashok Dhanuka's house here. According to media reports, Dhanuka and his son Ghanshyam Dhanuka are supposed to be close to a top political family of ruling BJP in Assam. According to the official, the Bengal CID team has asked Ashok Dhanuka to appear in Bengal CID headquarters Bhavani Bhavan at 10 a.m. on Monday. A source claimed that the CID team in Guwahati had gone to Dhanuka's house on Saturday to serve the notice but failed to meet the businessman as the house was guarded by the Assam Police. The Bengal CID team came to Guwahati to collect CCTV footage and other evidence regarding the arrest of three Congress MLAs from Jharkhand. They collected CCTV footages from the Gopinath Bordoloi International airport in Guwahati and a hotel. On July 30 evening, the three Congress MLAs of Jharkhand -- Irfan Ansari, Rajesh Kacchap and Naman Bixal Kongari -- were nabbed by the police at Howrah's Panchla, with huge amount of cash in their vehicle. The MLAs told the police that the cash was meant for purchasing sarees from the wholesale market at Burrabazar in central Kolkata to distribute in their constituencies on the occasion of the World Tribal Day. The MLAs and two of their associates, arrested with them, including the driver, have been remanded to CID custody till August 10. The Congress suspended three MLAs accusing them of conspiracy to topple the state government even a the matter rocked politics in Bengal, Assam, and Jharkhand.